Svengali (1954 film)

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Svengali
Directed byNoel Langley
Screenplay byNoel Langley
Based onTrilby
1894 novel
by George du Maurier
Produced byGeorge Minter
StarringHildegard Knef
Donald Wolfit
Terence Morgan
CinematographyWilkie Cooper
Edited byJohn Pomeroy
Music byWilliam Alwyn
Production
company
Alderdale Films
Distributed byRenown Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (US)
Release date
  • 1 December 1954 (1954-12-01)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Svengali is a 1954 British

opera singer, but she struggles to escape from his powers. It was distributed in the United States by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
.

Donald Wolfit was a last-minute replacement for actor

long shots.[2][3][4]

Plot

After being fired from working as a

nude for a class of art students. He is knocked down in the street by a carriage and suffers from ill health, returning to London
.

In the meantime, Svengali takes control of Trilby's life, after he is able to cure her of a

opera singer by his mesmerising technique. She becomes an international success, performing in capitals across Europe and led by the domineering Svengali she forgets Billy completely. However, when he attends a performance of hers in London
, the spell is shattered and instead of performing classical opera to the expectant crowd she sings "Alice, Where Are Thou?" in her old voice.

Cast

Production

The film was made at Walton Studios near London with sets designed by art director Frederick Pusey and costumes by Beatrice Dawson. It was shot in Eastmancolor.

Critical reception

Under the heading, "Sixth Filming of Novel Fails to Hypnotize",

side whiskers and bustles".[5]

Variety called the film "a heavy, sombre and dated melodrama."[6]

Kine Weekly wrote: Hildegarde Neff, skilfully dubbed by Madame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, [...] has beauty and intelligence as Trilby, and Terence Morgan is a handsome, perfectly-mannered, though somewhat ingenuous, Billy. The rest, too, are first rate. There is no conscious striving for effect, but even so the story steadily builds up to a spellbinding climax in which music plays an important part. Moreover, its lavish décor cleverly captures the spirit and the mood of its gaslight period.”[7]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Flatulent remake which does have the virtue of following the original book illustrations but is otherwise unpersuasive."[8]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as “average” and wrote: “Wolfit’s chew-the-scenery style suited to this role, but otherwise unsuccessful.''[9]

DVD Talk, comparing it to the 1931 John Barrymore version posited that "the 1954 British film fleshes out the characters of Trilby and Billy considerably and adds a lot of color and subtlety, but the results suggest that a more flamboyant approach might have worked better than the lush but tame version that resulted. The Eastmancolor production aims for an evocative atmosphere akin to John Huston's gorgeous Moulin Rouge (1952), photographed in Technicolor by Oswald Morris. Svengali was made on a fraction of that film's budget, though does look handsome for what it is."[3]

References

  1. ^ "Svengali". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Svengali (1955) - Notes". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Svengali". DVD Talk. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  4. ^ "Rivals make the same film". The Sun. New South Wales, Australia. 23 December 1953. p. 17 (LATE FINAL EXTRA). Retrieved 29 May 2020 – via Trove.
  5. ^ "Movie Review - Svengali - Dated 'Svengali'; Sixth Filming of Novel Fails to Hypnotize". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  6. ^ "Svengali". Variety. 197 (6): 6. 12 January 1955.
  7. Kine Weekly
    . 453 (2476): 24. 9 December 1954.
  8. ISBN 0-586-08894-6
    .
  9. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5
    .

External links

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